Pretty happy with this swim. I just kept a steady pace all the way, it felt great. The first few minutes I felt like a sailfish in the wetsuit -- it *definitely* helps. Swallowed a bit of salt water.

Also, I think that a neoprene cap for this race is helpful. I bought one for last year and was glad to use it this year too.

Nothing.

My transition area was not set up properly. It took forever (20+ mins) waiting in line to take a pre-race dump, and by the time I got back to transition I barely had time to pick up the wetsuit and get down to the race meeting.

There should be a rule at triathlons: racers should have pre-race priority at the porta-potty's. Come on, people!

I might bring my own plastic bag to take a pre-race dump.

My left hip and knee was (very) sore before the race so I did not have maximum power. I'm pretty sure I could have done 18.5 to 19.0 on a good day, but it is what it is. Would love to have some race wheels for that extra 1 mph that I seem to want lately :-) Even so, I did the bike segment about 5 minutes faster this year, so at least there has been some improvement.

Nothing.

The transition was pretty bad. I had to rustle through my pack to find the gels (refer to pre-race dump report above), and I was nearly out of transition when I remembered that I had left the race belt behind. To be honest, at this point I did not think there was much of a chance I would be able to run at all, so it did not matter much.

The first mile my hip and knee were really sore. Especially the inside of my left knee was very tender/swollen/bruised and my left hip felt like it was going to tear out. So, the plan was to run 1 mile then walk the rest of the way. But I was able to do 12 mm doing walk/run. Getting to the turn around point felt great!! I really HATE quitting.

Not much, I am really glad that I finished! So I am scoring this as "good".

My left hip and knee were really sore on race morning. I actually considered not doing the race at all, then decided to do the swim and bike, then decided a swim, bike + walk, then decided to do a run/walk.

The good news is that my cardio is now easily capable of this distance, so working on the running this winter will definitely help.


This is a great race. I hope to be back for the 3rd year in a row next year. Despite the leg issues I had a GREAT TIME and it felt really great to finish.

Funny how sometimes physical problems are best dealt with mentally.